Ice Trip
by Control Room
Summary: A little ice skating never hurt anyone, especially when you go ice skating with an alternate version of yourself! A sweet and humorous story I had worked on for quite a while for halfusek on tumblr! Read this better on Ao3. Trust me.


"Hey, Mag!" **  
**

Johan's voice eagerly (and slightly terrifyingly) wavered into Joey's office, the sound of it revealed before the man was fully formed, ones and zeros depixelizing getting into place. Magenta put down his pen to look at him, noting how his eyes shone and he beamed.

His mirth was infectious, and Magenta felt his lips slowly inch into a smile at his… friend? Companion? Attempted murderer? Boyfriend? Doppelganger? He did not know, so he shrugged it off and smiled at him in any case.

"Hello, Johan," he greeted with a nod, Johan nearly bouncing his way over his desk, a (shrunken to size) sweater on, clearly not originally his own, rather a certain animator's. Magenta rose an eyebrow, leaning back. "You look happy today."

"Not happy, mi rey," Johan sweetly remarked, Magenta feeling his smile broaden slightly as he squirmed from the hypocoristic. Johan bounced on his toes. "I'm just rather excited!"

"For what?" Magenta questioned, tilting his head, intrigued. Johan's grin shrank slightly, he becoming nervous. "Johan?"

"Well, I, um, you see," he began, stumbling over his words and blushing. He opened a pocket dimension (how, Magenta wondered), and pulled out two pairs of ice skates. Magenta squinted at them. "I wanted to know if you'll come skating with me."

"I… I don't know," he answered, shifting in his seat. Johan looked off to the ground, biting his lip in thought. Magenta had been out of any sportsmanship practices for a long time, never having the use for once honed skills and letting them fizzle down. He looked back at his alternate self. "I really… I haven't skated in a very long time… I don't really know."

"C'mon, it'll be fun!" Johan insisted gently, plucking on Magenta's sleeve carefully. Magenta still seemed unconvinced. Johan's eyes lit up. "It's just like dancing, but on knives!"

"What are you waiting for!?" Magenta demanded, taking him out of his office by the wrist, not a tight hold, but a firm one. "Let's go!"

Joey had overestimated his skills. Not Johan, no, he spun gracefully, his long limbs swaying like willow branches, lithe and flowing, years of practice allowing him to move with ease. Magenta, who had not ice skated in a good decade, give or take a few years, was not focusing as much on performance, rather, he was concentrating on maintaining a semblance of balance.

He sighed, pouting as he watched Johan spin. He called to him, and preformed a pattern, making a small leap, Magenta realizing he was writing something in the ice.

Te amo, followed by a heart.

He stared at it, blushing lightly, his wobbly knees now not just from the skates.

A light laugh nearly sent him crashing to the ground.

"Mi amor, you're shaking!" Johan softly pointed out, sliding up to him. Magenta's scarf was wound around his neck, he only realizing it then that it was even missing. Johan took him by the hand, using the other on his shoulder to steady him. Magenta swallowed, trembling on the ice. "You're as unstable as my mental health."

"I'm not shaking!" Magenta denied, staring at his wobbling feet. "I'm fine, I just need to find my balance!"

"Oh, for that, you just need to relax…" Johan soothed, slowing his motions more, gently guiding Magenta in their dance. He exhaled, smiling. "Take it easy."

"I am trying to," he gritted out, gripping Johan's hand tightly. Johan chuckled, making a curving circle with him. "I mean it!"

"I didn't say you weren't," he replied, smiling, slipping away and twirling, returning to his hands, and continuing, "You've done this before, right? You just need to recall it…."

They glided over the ice at a smooth and slow pace. Magenta let himself loosen up, exhaling. Johan's hand was warm on his, and he held him up, not tightly, but enough to support him.

Johan's quiet little laugh bubbled over his ears. He blinked, opening eyes he did not even know were closed. Johan beamed at him, an affectionate glow in his eyes and a soft blush blanketing his cheeks, slightly shielded by pink lenses.

"See?" he looked so nice, like a cinnamon bun with fresh coffee, just the perfect pick me up. Magenta did not realize how refreshing it was to be with someone who treated him as an equal, or even as a superior. He liked it best when Johan treated him just as he was, not embellished or degraded. Just who he was. Johan moved slightly back, giving Magenta the option to pull away from him and skate on his own. He did not. Johan laughed, a little louder, and god, he had such a beautiful smile. "You're steady already, there's no need to hold onto me like el gallina!"

"Like a what?" Magenta asked, blinking. Johan merely winked. Magenta looked over Johan taking in his long features, that giddiness he had, his unsuspecting expression. Joey felt his desire for the new and unexpected well up. He smirked, yanking Johan to him, too quick to let him ask what he was doing. "Nevermind that now. Johan, I think I found my footing."

With a burst of speed, he propelled them backwards, Johan unable to suppress a shriek as they accelerated rapidly. His eyes widened and he gripped Magenta like a lifeline, shook from the suddenness. Magenta felt himself grin.

"Who's shaky now?" he teased, making a sharp turn. "Hm?"

"I am!" Johan nearly shouted, "Cause you're gonna kill me!"

"I thought you didn't mind that," he hummed, twisting his way down a crooked path. Johan gasped as he rose their interlocked hands and spun him, dipping him down even as they continued to move. "Isn't that what you came for?"

"You are going to trip!" Johan yelped. "Then you're gonna slaughter us both!"

"I won't trip," Magenta retorted, rolling his eyes. He dashed with him on the ice, too stuck up to say that he actually had lost his balance a long time before, and was not in control of their path, using Johan as a crutch to hopefully not collapse. He turned them, their velocity long out of his ability to change. "See? We're fi-"

Thunk.

Magenta's skate had embedded itself in the ice, and they were pitching forward.

The snow falling around them seemed to slow.

Johan smiled, the smile of one knowing death's swift approach.

Magenta opened his mouth to speak, but Johan beat him to the action.

"Don't you dare tell me that you tripped."

"Fine," Magenta scowled. "I won't tell you."

Thud.

Johan felt the wind being knocked out of him as Magenta pushed him onto the ice beneath him.

Magenta looked some form of… embarrassed? Apologetic? Dead inside?

Then he noticed the rather compromising position they were in (as though two men dancing would not raise any eyebrows), and his expression blankened. Think think say something c'mo-

"I blame society," he stated, unable to figure out anything more intelligent to say. Johan pursed his lips, unimpressed.

"Really now?" he asked frankly, sarcastically, eyes half closed in silent reprimandation.

"Not really," Magenta mumbled, glancing off to the side, noting how their hands were still interlocked. He looked back to Johan, smiling slightly. The funny side of the situation appeared, and Johan's lips twitched into a grin.

He chuckled, trying to keep down his smile, trying and failing to be taciturn, his attempt adorably young and sweet. He frowned as Magenta grinned.

"What's wrong?" Magenta questioned. Johan's smile genuinely reappeared as he shook his head. "Nothing?"

"This is the first time I've seen you happy," he answered, blushing. "Really happy. I'm… I'm glad that I could make you smile. It's really… really something else."

Magenta flushed at the compliment, ducking his head and muttering how it was nothing.

"It's something alright," Johan crooned, his smile tinged with a slight pride. "My something."

Their eyes met, and they found that they could not stop laughing.

It was absurd, they were absurd, one of two of one of a kind, a disaster squared, and yet here they were, fallen on the snow from ice skating, a fall one warned of.

Johan's forehead met Magenta's, and he had not even realized he had leaned toward him in his muted guffaws. He laughed harder, and Johan's merriment reverberated and merged with his own, a positive feedback loop.

They both simply laughed, until Johan started coughing, whether from his laughter or from the ice on his back unclear. Nonetheless, Magenta pulled them both up, eventually getting them to a warm room with blankets and hot drinks.

They were on the couch, Johan's back pressed to Magenta's chest, and they spoke of youth and energy. How both seemed in so little supply for them.

"You make me feel energized, Mag," Johan admitted to Magenta. "When I see you, I feel like I could run around the world."

Magenta wrapped his arms tighter around him, unable to talk, melting in his skin.

"I love you, you know," Johan whispered. Magenta flushed, wriggling under him. Johan smiled. "Mi amor. Mi rey. Mi cariño. Mi precioso."

Every endearment brought Magenta further and further to an unknowing bliss, each word a direct, loving blow to his heart, dissolving him.

When he finally managed to fall asleep, Johan curled up on his chest, wrapping the blanket around them tighter.

"Merci, mon amour," he whispered, kissing his cheek, a soft smirk tweaking his lips as he put emphasis on the pronoun. Magenta stirred, a smile lifting the corners of his own mouth.

"De nada," he breathed, his arms squeezing lightly.

Johan smiled, yawned, and fell asleep.


End file.
